Synopsis
A haunted house makes no secret of the fact it is not pleased with its new tenants in this independent tale of supernatural horror. Katie (Katie Featherson) and Micah (Micah Sloat) are a twentysomething couple who've just moved into a new home in San Diego, California. Katie has an interest in the paranormal and believes that malevolent spirits have been following her since childhood, though Micah is not so easily convinced. However, after several nights of loud noises and strange happenings, Micah starts to agree with Katie that some sort of ghost may have followed them to the new home. After a paranormal researcher tells the couple he can't help them, Micah decides to take control of the situation and sets up a battery of video cameras so that if a spirit manifests itself, he can capture its behavior on tape. Once the surveillance cameras are in place, Katie and Micah bring in a Ouija board in an effort to talk to the spirits, a move that deeply offends the ghosts. PARANORMAL ACTIVITY was the first feature film from writer-director Oren Peli.

Reviews
"[F]reaky and terrifying....The fear is real, all right, because the fear is really in you." -- Grade: A- (Entertainment Weekly)

3.5 stars out of 4 -- "PARANORMAL ACTIVITY is an ingenious little horror film, so well made it's truly scary, that arrives claiming it's the real thing." (Chicago Sun-Times)

3 stars out of 4 -- "Think THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT meets THE EXORCIST and then dial it up a few notches, and you have an approximation of the subtle but terrifying atmosphere of PARANORMAL ACTIVITY." (USA Today)

"[G]enuinely chilling....The film's suspense, like BLAIR WITCH's, is the sort that lurks in the shadows..." (Washington Post)

"PARANORMAL ACTIVITY derives much of its power from juxtaposing supernatural otherworldliness with the mundanity of the apartment where its action takes place. At best, PARANORMAL ACTIVITY makes the banal and commonplace deeply unsettling." -- Grade: B+ (A.V. Club)